L2/04-106
Title: Contribution from DKUUG on Standardizing Linux in ISO.
Date: 2004-01-31
Source: DKUUG standardization group
DKUUG - the Danish Unix-systems Users Group - is a user group
of Unix users, including Linux users, and builds its work on open systems and
open standards. It is one of the largest Unix users groups in the world.
DKUUG would like to see Linux-specifications like the FSG Linux Standards Base be
standardised in ISO. We see that a number of other operating system products
strive for Linux compatibility and an ISO reference would help here. Also
for acceptance in the public sector, which make an emphasis on open standards,
ISO standardisation would be beneficial.
We would like the standardization, and especially the maintenance
of the standards, to be done in a cooperative way, with both the originating
organization (such as FSG) and ISO working together on one specification.
This should be done in a way such that the procedures of each of the
participating organizations be fully respected. An example of how this can
be done is the Austin group.
DKUUG would like to suggest that the Linux standards be updated wrt.
internationalization, including documenting current Linux praxis
on locales, that are implemented in a way very much like ISO TR 14652.
That would include the locale categories LC_IDENTIFICATION, LC_CTYPE, LC_COLLATE,
LC_TIME, LC_NUMERIC, LC_MONETARY, LC_MESSAGES, LC_PAPER, LC_NAME, LC_ADDRESS,
LC_TELEPHONE. If possible the Linux standards should be harmonized with TR
14652, and also with the POSIX standard ISO 9945, the sorting standard
ISO 14651, the C standard ISO 9899, the C++ standard ISO 14882 and
other relevant standards.
We would like to suggest that the ISO specifications relevant to Linux be
made available free of charge for use on Linux systems, eg in Linux documentation
such as man-pages and introductory and reference material. Today Linux
implements many ISO specifications, but the description of the facilities
cannot use the precise wordings for copyright reasons.
This would include the POSIX standard in 9945 and the sorting standard 14651
and the locale TR 14652.
DKUUG would like the standardization of Linux and POSIX to be done
in the same group in ISO, as the standards are very much related, and
it is hoped that unnecessary differences could be minimized with this cooperation.
DKUUG appreciates that the Linux rapporteur group is open to non-profit
organizations in the field, and we would appreciate if this also
be the case for the future work.
DKUUG offers to host email and web services for the Linux Rapporteur Group.
DKUUG offers to host the next or another future meeting of the ISO
Linux rapporteur group, or its successor.